Vision 2100
Vision 2100 features a collection of radical concepts of how Earth could transform over the coming nine decades that could potentially become reality if only people started acting intelligently and for the interests of all society. It is a vision of what the world could potentially become by 2100, in the sense of what is scientifically possible, not what is sociopolitically likely. Vision 2010 is a best-case scenario, so in a sense it is very idealistic, and at the same time coldly rational. Overview All of humanity is united in a single world-spanning organization called Society. Population has reached 15 billion. Parts of government: Society has one government, comprised of a Legislature, a judicial system, and an administrative system. Legislature Voting: The Legislature is an assembly of Representatives elected in a democratic manner from the peoples of the entire world. Everyone has access to the internet, through which voting takes place, and a foolproof method of balloting has been installed on the government's website for voting on these Representatives to take place. Voting occurs twice a year in two windows: #June 1 - 15 #December 1 - 15 During the voting windows everyone who is a citizen (those who have passed Society's educational system) can vote on one candidate. A person only has a +1 for a vote (so no negative votes, no partial votes, etc). Running: For the week before the voting windows open up, any citizen can also put his/her name on the ballot (run to be a Representative), though only people who have done a lot of prior campaigning or who are very popular/famous actually bother to do so. Candidate websites: All candidates are listed on a very prominent government website (which everyone essentially knows by name) and there are links to each of those candidates' web sites. Each web site has a standard layout so that people can easily navigate the website, and very quickly read up on candidates' political platforms and voting records (in both general assembly and usually in the open-to-the-public special assemblies) and calendar (such as when they will be meeting with people at rallies, debates, etc.), recordings of candidates' speeches and meetings, etc. The websites will be fully supported by the government, though at a low budget, and will be allowed to have contributions from other organizations, companies, and individuals. Website info balancing: Also, candidates are required to have separate articles on each of the prominent to semi-prominent controversial topics (ie. climate change). On these articles will be listed the candidate's voting history on the topic and relevant clips of the candidate's debates with other candidates and meetings with constituencies. Also, the articles will have links to what other candidates and sources have to say about the matter, usually contradictory statements, listed along the side based on relevance, popularity, and importance (based on the below topic), so as to give a balanced portrayal of information. Controversial topics: The websites will also be required to have certain terms (controversial terms, such as "terrorism" and "climate change") be links to "controversial topics" websites. These are websites where people will be allowed to present all their viewpoints on a specific matter, such as climate change, and where everyone can present their own arguments as readily readable document files, and where people can make comments on others' comments and vote up articles/comments they agree with, thereby pushing up good articles/comments to the top of the page. This way people will be able to easily gain access to all the important information - all the main viewpoints - on a controversial topic. Threshold: Also decided prior to the voting window is the threshold, the number of votes a candidate needs to become a Representative. This number is typically around 20,000,000. Winning: Whenever a candidate receives the threshold number of votes, he/she has 'threshold' and is removed from the ballot and becomes a Representative. Typically the popular candidates receive all the votes they need within the first few days of the voting window since they get votes the earliest. Later voters put votes in other candidates that represent similar political platforms. Usually a candidate that has threshold will post a list of candidates that he/she would support, to get those who would vote for him, to vote for those other candidates. In the last few days voting organizations, usually aligned along interest groups or political platforms, would tell their members who they should vote for to ensure that the maximum number of like-minded Representatives is elected to office. Terms: A Representative's term is three years and is staggered. It lasts for the next six cycles (a cycle is half a year and so a term in office is three years). The cycles are: #January 1 through June 30 #July 1 through December 31 For example, a candidate that hits threshold on June 14, 2100 serves as a Representative for July 1, 2100 through June 30, 2103. Number of Representatives: As a result the number of people comprising the Legislature is variable, depending on the number of people who end up getting elected each voting cycle. Also as a result, the number varies by very little from cycle to cycle. The typical number of Representatives in Legislature is 3000, and the typical number of Representatives elected each cycle is 500, since a good percentage of people don't vote. Representatives' Team: Representatives may hire a team of 4-6 people to work with them (or more, but the salaries for this many are covered by the government). They are usually to help with campaigning, public relations, updating on political events, providing overviews of bills, and drafting up bills. General Legislature: The term General Legislature refers to all the Representatives, who convene once a week to vote on matters that affect all of Society. As a safety precaution, this meeting is conducted online through the government website, protected from hackers and open to a great number of media peoples. Representatives often call in directly from their offices. There are no particular leaders or chairmen that guide discussion. Instead, those Representatives that had threshold earliest - those that are most popular - are most respected and they are de facto given the role of speaking first and presenting the opinions of the groups of Representatives that they represent. Therefore, there are in a sense a variety of prominent speakers depending on the issue under discussion. After their speech, other members may speak, though most of the time is given to a panel of Representatives and other people who are the most well-versed in the matter at hand. Special Legislature: The term Special Legislature refers to subcommittees of the Representatives that focus on smaller matters. Certain special legislatures focus on monetary policies, others on transportation and communication, still others on matters at the municipal level, and so on. Usually, at the beginning of a cycle the General Legislature assigns responsibilities for each Representative, essentially assigning them various Special Legislatures; this usually works in a way similar to the general election of Representatives by the citizens, ie. each candidate for a particular Special Legislature has a threshold target to reach. A Representative typically attends a meeting with one special legislature each day, once a week, and meet with 4-6 special legislatures. These meetings are usually held in person to facilitate more in-depth discussion, and also recorded and presented on the government website, though usually attract far less attention from the public. All of a special legislature's powers come from the general legislature, which can create, modify, reassign members of, and dissolve special legislatures at any time. Bills: Proposals can be submitted by any citizen to a Representative, and if that Representative likes it his/her team polishes it into a bill, and he/she then presents it at the relevant Legislature meeting. Representatives can of course present their own bills. Bills are then voted on a week later, giving Representatives time to look at it. All bills are worded as changing something, so that voting 'no' on one reaffirms the status quo. Voting on bills: There are no filibuster or other procedural options. Bills are decided based on majority but require at least 60% (of the total Legislature for general meetings and of the relevant Representatives for special meetings) to pass, so if a bill gets passed into law, it's not too easily undone. The standard procedure on a bill is to discuss for 30 minutes, limited to a maximum of 2 minutes per Representative speaking on the matter, and then vote - quickly. The voting takes mere seconds and anyone who doesn't vote within that window is considered to be voting 'no'. Therefore conservatives (those in favor of keeping the status quo) often don't show up at these meetings at all. Watchdog Group: The Watchdog Group is a group of Representatives elected on a platform of 'no bullshit', in other words, these people vote down bills that are focused too much on special interests, vote down long-winded and complicated bills, and vote down bills with too many things wrapped together, as a matter of course, regardless of whether they agree with the content. In this way pork-barrel spending and tedious negotiation and compromise, rendered ineffectual, is kept to a minimum. These people are also elected to their position not for their political stances, so should they no longer keep this role, they will no longer be elected. Time-limiting provision: De facto, almost all bills are written to last for shorter than five years. This prevents the lawbooks from getting unduly complicated, since only the five most recent years' worth of bills apply. Of course, bills can be crafted to have exceptions if they're seen as important and unequivocal. Administrative system Teams: The administrative system is a collection of teams that are under the oversight of relevant special legislatures and are in charge of actually getting the job done. Their decisions can be overridden by the special legislature at any time; they exist solely to facilitate the desires of the special legislature. Workers: Usually each team is comprised of various government workers that specialize in whatever it is they do, of which one member reports to the special legislature. Special legislatures usually oversee many teams at a time. The people working in this role are usually mundane nobodies, with no decision-making powers, no oversight, repetitive work, and average pay, and are considered government grunts. Workers of the administrative system form the largest portion of government employees. Judicial system The judicial system is in charge of simply getting the cases brought before them resolved, and not for clarification of the law. Structure: The structure of the judicial system is as follows: #100 Tier 4 courts #2,000 Tier 3 courts #40,000 Tier 2 courts #800,000 Tier 1 courts Courts are not arranged by specialty or territorial jurisdiction. Instead, in determining which court to go to, the two sides first find a place which both will agree to go to (in which the judge's or region's preferences and geographical distance play a role). Before the trial: The process starts when the prosecutor files a complaint to the legal system. Within a few days the defendant will be notified, at which point both sides choose the locations where they would like to attend court. The electronic system will decide a location where both are satisfied, and the case will go to court in a few days. Before the trial begins, both sides are required to disclose certain vital information to each other; they also contact their witnesses and attorneys (if any). At any time during the process, the two sides can settle the case, in which case the case would end early. Trial Procedure: If a settlement cannot be reached, then the trial begins. It is a singular session (which may be recorded by media but could be restrained from immediate release for broadcasting) where the prosecution states its case, followed by the defense. There is no explicit "which do you plead" rite, no "pleading the fifth" as in the US court system; instead, the defendant is presumed to plead not guilty (unless he/she confesses), the prosecution is not allowed to make compromises if the defendant confesses, and both sides do their best to defend their positions. At any time while one side is making its case, that side can call in witnesses or ask questions to any witnesses. The two sides take turns stating arguments and countering the other side's arguments, never repeating an argument unless it's to briefly state that it is a counterargument to another claim. Soon both sides will run out of arguments, after which the judges will convene in their office and reach a verdict based on a simple majority. As a result of this system, situations are resolved very quickly. Trial Judging: Three judges preside over a case. All cases enter at the Tier 1 level. A decision is reached if two judges of the three can agree, though they may have to compromise on the defendant's level of guilt and punishment. Appeals: Cases can be appealed if any one of the three judges want to. This happens if the case is a borderline case requiring further review, or if the judges simply can't reach a decision. Cases go up one tier each time they are appealed. Tier 4 courts can appeal for the Legislature to review. Usually however, the judges of Tier 4 courts see so many borderline cases that they are good at drawing the line. Guiltiness: In determining a defendant's guilt, judges do not simply vote 'innocent' or 'guilty', since cases are not seen as black and white, unless the defendant confesses or either side commits a terrible blunder in the presentation of their case ('makes a slip'). Usually two of the three judges arrive at a guiltiness percentage, typically 0% to 100%, though negative percentages and percentages greater than 100% are allowed as well depending on the circumstances. Punishments are then scaled according to the guiltiness percentage times a standard punishment. In other words, the 'standard punishment' is only exacted if the defendant is charged with 100% guilt, a rare situation. Case load: Court cases generally go significantly faster in Asiata due to simpler, more straight-forward legal systems; a court is able to go through 10 cases on an average day. The average Asiatic person instigates a court case every 5 years. Judge selection: Judges are chosen by special legislatures from the pool of applicants who have passed the state's Judicial Filter (the equivalent of the bar exam). They are chosen to serve for a year-long term at a time, and can also be fired and replaced by a special legislature. Usually new judges are hired to work at Tier 1 courts, and only judges that have served at all the lower tiers can be promoted to a court of a higher tier, since they need to have more experience with the borderline cases. Legislative clarification: The role of clarifying the law is usually undertaken by special legislatures. The special legislature may choose which cases it wants to review, and may accept and turn down petitions for appeal by Tier 4 courts. The determination by the special legislature is not final and may be supplanted by the ruling of a later special legislature, and by the general legislature, and so on. Sanctions: *Witnesses can be convicted of lying (perjury). *Both sides can be found guilty of contempt of the court. *Prosecutors are just as in danger as defendants are of being assessed fines. This may occur if, for example, the court finds the prosecutor guilty of the crime which they have accused the defense, or of a different (though generally related) crime which they are responsible for, if the prosecution knowingly lies, aka. commits perjury (no one is permitted to lie knowingly). *Defendants may also counter-sue in the same trial or at a later date. Retrials: There is no law expressly forbidding double jeopardy, though by default judges won't allow the same prosecutor to gain double from the same defendant simply by going to trial multiple times. Defendants who have already gone through a case for a crime can be brought to trial for a second round for the same crime; this is important if new evidence appears which hadn't been revealed beforehand. If the defendant is convicted both times, the later verdict replaces the former instead of being appended to it. This also works the other way around; if new evidence disproves a convicted defendant's guilt, it is admissible in a second round, the verdict of which would replace previous ones. There can then be third, fourth, etc. rounds provided there is at least one trio of judges willing to review the case. There is no statute of limitations, though of course evidence gets increasingly blurry so convictions become increasingly unlikely with time. Trivial trial provision: Prosecutors are almost always guilty of "bringing a case to court", which is a very, very light sentence meant to pay for court expenses. Mental problems are never a direct defense for a case. Indiction: Political lies and slander: If politicians or other people deemed of great significance in the political arena (such as notable reverends, members of the administration, celebrities) make false statements regarding some political aspect or controversial topic (such as slander against politicians or false claims about what actually happened such as consequences of climate change or politicians' voting records), then they can be very, very easily brought to court on an expedited track (their schedules are placed before that of all others in going to court). Since such lawsuits are about primarily fact-based matters, the court proceedings will go very quickly. Also, because the politicians made their statements in public and so any harm dealt has primarily public consequences, these cases are done in wide-open publicity, and given to the media. The media of course will make the most of the verdict, so that politicians (or other people) make such false statements, they can be quickly condemned for it. This process therefore helps to ensure truth in political campaigns. Transportation Because of the rapid depletion of oil and continued rapid population growth, cheap and effective mass transportation has become a major issue. City organization: Over the course of nearly a century, all cities have been demolished. Streets which used to take unusual shapes and form acute angles with other streets have been replaced with a new grid-like system in which all streets are horizontal or vertical, like the lines of a grid. This grid encompasses much of the entire landscape of the planet. Density: Cities are on average three times as dense as they were in 2000. Buildings almost always have four or more floors to them. Metro lines: All cities have adopted a metro bus-rail system. These are always underground. They take on a regular, highly reliable schedule as they are fully automated. They are essentially subways in that getting on and off them occurs readily at each stop, because they use rail tracks which also provide them with electric power, and because they are an underground system. Each locomotive is comprised of several carriages that can pivot from one another so as to allow them to turn corners. The metro line system is meant to be used by people without too much baggage, and these buses have a lot of retractable seats lining the sides. Stops: Metro lines have terminals at regular intervals at street intersections. People are expected to walk the half-block it takes for them to reach their destination once they have arrived at the stop closest to their destination, just like with regular buses. Since all city blocks are made to have nearly the same dimensions, all buses come to a stop at an intersection at the same time. The stop lasts one minute, allowing people to spend 20 seconds getting off, 20 seconds transitioning to the adjacent metro line, and 20 seconds getting on. There are two buses serving each red line, and a full circuit around a block takes eight minutes, so a bus arrives once every four minutes. Metro line pattern: All metro lines have been developed with the idea of using a street as a one-way metro line. Refer to the picture. A metro line goes in a circle around one city block (a city block is square but often has a street running through the middle of it). Every other city block doesn't have its own red metro line. All red metro lines go in the same direction, say, counterclockwise, and are placed diagonal with one another. The end result is that one could very well think that the grids without metro lines actually do have one, going clockwise. There is essentially one metro line running along each street. This system reduces the cost of maintaining the metro line while maintaining ease of use. The other classes of metro lines run in both directions. Classes of metro lines: There are four classes of metro lines: *The red lines have lengths of one block, and go in a circle around one block. They are used for traversing short distances and for finishing the leg of a journey. *The purple lines have lengths of four blocks. They are often used for shopping at local places. *The blue lines have lengths of sixteen blocks. They are used most often for medium-distance commuting. *The green lines have lengths of 64 blocks. They are often used for long-distance commuting and for going across cities, and usually achieve max speeds of 300 mi/hr. Speeds: Red lines are the slowest because they have to stop at every intersection, and take about one minute to go the length of one block, then they stop for a minute. All other classes are faster since they stop less often, spending less time at stops and achieving faster speeds without being too wasteful. Cars, trucks and freight: There are still roads allowing people to drive cars and trucks, and these are still clogged as usual. There are still railroads meant to transport freight. The metro line system is not a replacement for any of these. Firefighting and police Helicopters for police: Helicopters form the standard vehicle of the police, replacing police cars. The police don't use vehicles to patrol neighborhoods - they use cameras instead. Also, most of what the police do involve actions that can be done using unmanned aerial drones (see the military section), so the use of a helicopter isn't all that common. Drones for firefighters: Firefighters are usually not distinguishable from police in that both are learned in both activities. They use unmanned aerial drones exclusively to put out fires, evacuate trapped people, etc. Healthcare roles: Usually the police have no need for the helicopters at their disposal, and usually they have significant down time, so they are placed on call to use those helicopters to answer emergency calls for health-related concerns, functioning in the role of an ambulance. Helicopters have entirely supplanted ambulances, and contain a variety of first aid equipment. Because of the role of helicopters in first aid, the three groups (EMS, police, firefighters) share the use of helicopters. Usually however helicopters are reserved for patients who can't be moved around a lot (such as those suffering from spinal injuries), because otherwise unmanned aerial drones can do this role more effectively. Stations: Police and firefighter stations are built as add-ons to hospitals with emergency departments (because they have helicopters and helicopter pads). They also have a store of unmanned aerial drones in the stations. Role in traffic: Vehicles are designed so that they physically cannot go over 55 miles per hour. No streets in Society have a speed limit lower than 55 miles per hour. This eliminates speeding concerns, and the need for police to ticket speeders. Intersections have cameras and weight and motion detectors built in so that police aren't needed to catch people who run red lights. Helicopters for riot police: Helicopters have tear gas bombs and microwave guns which are useful against suspects they are trying to hunt down, but equally good at riot control. Various other drones also have these functions. Since they're not on the ground, helicopters have to be aided by on-site police. Shift away from prisons: Prisons will no longer be the most popular destination for convicted criminals, due to the fact that a prison term is generally nonproductive for all parties involved and psychologically debilitating. Instead, convicted criminals usually serve parole under close supervision from police officers or surveillance cameras (such as flying drones), and some will have unremovable collars with tamperproof cameras attached, depending on the situation. Criminals will be allowed to interact with people in society while going about their daily life or doing various activities, such as social work. If social work is part of the sentence, then it is mandatory, and this will be a highly popular sentence. Military Standing military: Since Society doesn't have any other national entity threatening it, it doesn't have much of a standing military. This also means that there isn't much the government can do if massive numbers of people decide to overthrow it, which is another check on the government. However the government does have powerful forces so that isolated threats such as secessions or minor revolts could be put down. Nukes: Society retains several thousand nuclear warheads installed in ICBM's for extraordinary circumstances. These nukes are placed in satellites (which can launch them to anywhere on the world or elsewhere) and on nuclear submarines. However most of the nukes ever created have been deconstructed and their uranium and plutonium have been put to use at nuclear power plants. Army: Aside from regular police, Society doesn't have an army. It has no infantry, no infantry support vehicles, no field hospitals, no tanks, and no artillery. However, it fields a lot of unmanned drones, all of which are controlled long-distance from military bases spread around the world, and these controllers are trained by the military. Navy: Aside from coast guard vessels that have a role in relieving distressed ships, nuclear submarines, and submarines for oceanic research, Society doesn't have much of a standing navy either. Static defense: Walls, SAM turrets, bunkers, bomb shelters, coastal defenses, and other static military structures have been mostly disassembled. Air force: The power of Society's military lies primarily with the air force, which is also technologically very advanced - this is the part of the military with nearly all of the funds. The focus is on speed and flexibility over efficiency, so there's not too many classes of aircraft. These aircraft have been designed with versatility in mind because in the absence of a national threat, a military's reason for existence is to be ready for the unusual. Unmanned aerial drones: Also part of the air force, though usually the police control these for all sorts of operations, such as tracking down criminals, surveillance, and riot-fighting on the ground. These come in a lot of varieties, each suited to just one (or a few) applications. Several basic drone classes: *The fire-hydrant type, which connects with fire hydrants and has an extensible hose, and which goes into burning houses carrying the hose on full power; *The fire-suffocator type, which is a much larger drone that carries a payload of highly inflammable material for putting out large fires; *The hunter type, which is very agile and hardened against impact, carries weapons, and used to chase down criminals; *The surveillance type, which is very small and may look innocuous when not moving, is silent, and can change its skin color to blend in with surroundings (in the absence of cloaking technology, basically requires another surveillance drone nearby to take pictures of it and tell it how to change its colors), and which is also used for a variety of civilian purposes; *The personnel evacuation type, with a powerful engine and flexible chassis which can carry a very heavy payload and is used to hold on to people such as those stranded in blazing homes, but which can also be used to capture criminals; *The medical type, which provides a great variety of treatments and diagnosis AI, capable of giving immediate treatment for most situations; and *The construction type, which aids in construction projects, used primarily in civilian purposes. Education Society has a preschool and a primary school system, both of which have standardized curricula. Preschool: Preschool is for ages 0-6, focusing heavily on day care, babysitting, weaning, learning English vocabulary, basic interaction with people, simple mathematics up through subtraction, and play. It is entirely optional, though almost all parents would want to have their children enroll in preschool, public or private. Primary school: Starting at age 7, this lasts for an indeterminate number of years, though usually eight years. Students must take each of the following classes, as they are required. Each of the classes lasts for a semester. Some disciplines, such as the math courses, should be taken in order, but many other courses have no such requirement. The government posts suggested courses to take for each grade level to guide students in their enrollment process. Students must pass each of these courses in order to sit for the Citizen Filter (a citizenship exam). Primary school is mandatory for at least seven years. English requirement: English is the only official language in Society, having sufficiently supplanted all other languages. Students must take and pass eight semesters' worth of English courses in primary school, though these can be taken several simultaneously. They are encouraged to take them all in the first four years of school so that they will be sufficiently prepared for all the social, reading, and writing skills courses. Passing: At the end of each course is a test, not necessarily written, which determines 100% of the grade. It may be taken a total of three times, though each version is different. A student passes only if he/she scores a 75% or higher at least once on non-asterisked courses, and 95% or higher on asterisked courses. The makeup sessions are two and four weeks after the final, allowing students to be given feedback on what they're weak on and to shore up their weaknesses before trying again. If a student passes a course, he/she gets a credit for that course. Credit for each course, as well as 8 credits in English, are required to sit for the Citizen Filter. Core courses are marked with an (*). Personal Skills *PHND: Handwriting *PNOT: Effective Note-Taking *PGRF: Simple Graphical Presentation *PCRT: Exercise in Creativity *PTIM: Time Management and Planning (*) *PDCM: Decision Making (*) *PSYF: Awareness of Psychological Faults (*) *PINI: Personal Initiatives Reinforcement *PMSC: Misc Personal Skills Material *PDEF: Self Defense and Avoiding Fights *PSWM: Swimming and Physical Safety *PTEM: Teamwork, Collaboration and Focus Logic Skills *LFAL: Logic and Logical Fallacies (*) *LRAT: Rational Decision Making and Logic (*) *LFLX: Flexibility of Thought Training *LCAS: Situation Analysis and Case Study (*) Social Skills *SLIS: Effective Listening (*) *SEMO: Assessing Emotions and Thoughts *SRAP: Rapport Building and Communication *SNAM: Remembering Names *STEL: How to Tell a Story *SBAD: How to Deliver Bad News *SLIE: Lying Believably and Detecting Lies *SDEF: Presentation and Defense *SPUB: Public Speech *SDBT: Debate *SNEG: Negotiation and Compromise *SLED: Motivation and Leadership *SSEL: Selling/Marketing *SITV: Interviewing and Common Q&A *SJOB: Job Searching *SDAT: Flirting and Dating *SPRO: Promotion and Activism Reading Skills *RCRT: Critical Reading (*) *RSBT: Subtle Readings Analysis *RSPD: Speed Reading *RFND: Investigative Research Writing Skills *WPPR: Writing/Editing the Paper/Proposal *WRES: Resume and Cover Letter *WETQ: Etiquette and Specialized Forms Mathematics *MMPD: Multiplication and Division (*) *MFRA: Fractions, Decimals, Percents and Ratios (*) *MALG: Basic Algebra (*) *MAL2: Intermediate Algebra and Trigonometry (*) *MGEO: Geometry and Introductory Physics (*) *MPRB: Probability (*) *MSTA: Statistics (*) *MWDP: Word Problem Solving (*) *MBTS: Brainteaser Problem Solving Finance *FMNY: Money and Transactions (*) *FACC: Personal Accounting and Budgeting (*) *FFIN: Personal Financing and Loans (*) *FSEC: Stocks and Other Securities (*) *FRES: Real Estate *FTAX: Filing Your Tax Documents (*) *FMIC: Microeconomics *FMAC: Macroeconomics and Politics *FINT: International Trade *FBUS: Launching a Business Law *JEVD: Everyday Law and Relating to Police (*) *JCRM: Criminal Law (*) *JCIV: Civil Law and Regulations (*) *JRTS: Personal Rights and Responsibilities (*) *JBUS: Business and Trade Contracts (*) *JCON: Other Legal Contracts Politics / Government *GPOL: Politics and Government (*) *GGEO: Basic World Geography *GDEB: Major Political Debates *GREL: Major World Religions *GCUL: Major World Cultural Differences Technical Skills *TNUM: Typing and Numpad *TPRG: Basic Computer Programs (*) *TPR2: Auxiliary Common Programs *TNET: Internet and Searching (*) *TDAT: Data Mining *TFOR: Public Forums and Wikis *TFIX: Computer Fixing and Troubleshooting *TAPP: Use and Repair of Everyday Appliances *TSAF: Safe Use of Mechanical Tools *TCAR: Basic Car Maintenance *TRLS: Use and Repair of Real Estate Life Skills / How-Tos *QDRV: Driving and Parallel Parking (*) *QMOV: Getting a Home and Relocating *QWLD: Wildnerness Survival and Navigation *QINS: Getting and Collecting on Insurance *QBUY: Buying Cars, Homes, and Large Goods *QSEW: Basic Sewing *QHOU: House Cleaning and Maintenance *QSCN: Scandalous Things No One Tells You *QSEC: Personal Security and Scams (*) *QSCR: Credit, Scores and Histories *QBAB: Baby Care and Weaning *QMSC: Misc Life Skills *QOCC: Overview of Occupations Health Skills *HFUD: Basic Cooking and Selecting Good Food *HNUT: Nutrition Facts and Dieting *HCPR: CPR and Medical Symptoms *HMED: Health Safety and Common Medicines (*) *HDRG: Drugs, Alcohol and Knowing Limits (*) *HSEX: Abstinence and Sex Citizen Filter: This is a supervised sit-down exam that every student must pass in order to graduate, and spans a week of tests. The exam has sessions on each of the subjects listed above. Students must score an average of 75% or higher among all the subjects, and score an average of 95% or higher among all core subjects (*), in order to pass the Citizen Filter. The Citizen Filter is offered every semester. Effects of passing: Passing the Citizen Filter does the following: *The person graduates and is no longer a student and no longer required to attend school. *The person becomes a citizen of Society and has voting and running-for-public-office privileges. *The person may seek a job with the government. The government also runs a job-matching service which only citizens may use. *The person's salary expectations go from shitty to average, since almost no one will hire people who can't pass. *The person is able to represent him/her-self in court. *The person gets a drivers' license. *The person may make large transactions, financial transactions, and sign legal contracts on his own behalf, and may initiate lawsuits. *The person may perform CPR on people and may use medicines without supervision, and may advise others on use of medicines. *The person may marry. *The person may use drugs. Any drugs. *The person may enroll in curricula that lead to sitting for the Judicial Filter, Medical Filter, Financial Filter, etc. *The person is no longer considered a minor in the eye of the law. This means punishments for crimes will be more severe. Healthcare Little Doctor: The AI program Little Doctor is a very complicated program developed by a massive joint project between government, healthcare professionals (especially doctors), scientists, and programmers. Little Doctor takes a lot of input regarding almost all aspects of a patient's body to deliver a diagnosis, prognosis, additional tests needed, and treatment plan. It also draws upon information from previous treatments and diagnoses in making this decision. As it is based off of an AI that is capable of learning from new healthcare-related information, it picks knowledge out of PubMed, the premier medical database, and incorporates it (naturally this can only be done by articles specifically rewritten to be easily understood by the AI so as to allow no room for misunderstanding). Since medicine is one of the most complex fields of human knowledge, and the effects of a wrong diagnosis or treatment very important, the first 50 years or so of the Little Doctor's existence and use sees a considerable amount of evaluation, guidance, and support from physicians, and also a considerable amount of reprogramming work. It is projected that even after these 50 years of guidance, physicians will still be needed to ensure that it works smoothly and to incorporate new scientific knowledge into the program, albeit with fewer physicians needed. Doctor Device: The premier robot lineup that performs a variety of medical tests on patients, as well as performs surgeries. There are a lot of different types of this robot, ie. some perform surgeries, some perform basic medical tests, and some practice more complicated ones (such as CT and MRI scans, which require special infrastructure). Hospitals usually have the greatest variety of Doctor Device products to offer specialized care, but ambulance helicopters and certain unmanned aerial drones can also have Doctor Device components. Doctor Device is designed to work intimately with Little Doctor to provide medical testing and treatment. These two combined mean that physicians no longer directly treat people. Medicine availability: Medicines are dispensed from pharmacies that are like little booths, with a robot that obtains and prepares the medicines from the stores within the pharmacy. Citizens (aka. those who have passed the citizen filter and thus have demonstrated their understanding of medicine) can obtain medications by doing all the following: *paying the money; *inputting one's identity info so as to verify their citizenship (may also involve iris scans for additional security); *requesting for a certain type of medicine; and *prescriptions from a Doctor Device + Little Doctor for non-over-the-counter (though these will be done electronically by the Little Doctor and not in-paper). Medical data: All medical treatments and diagnoses add information to Society's medical database, adding to the body of information used by Little Doctor to evaluate others' medical conditions. Because of the obvious benefit to society of having all patients be included in data collection, it is mandatory. Clinical trials: In many cases, the Little Doctor won't be able to make definitive diagnoses or treatments. In this case, the optimal (or best known) treatment will usually be prescribed, but patients will be able to opt into clinical trials (ie. taking alternative treatments) so as to explore potential options' efficacy. Readily accessible medical records: People known to suffer from certain chronic medical conditions, such as diabetes and Alzheimer's, will have implants that record personal health information to a global medical info repository. This can be useful in case something goes wrong, ie. an elderly person suddenly falling in a home when no one else is at home would be able to get timely treatment. Also, this information would be useful to Little Doctor in tracking such things as blood-sugar levels and heart rate. Of course, there will be safety systems in place to prevent such information from going into the hands of anyone other than relatives and medical personnel. Emergency care: Money for supporting hospital emergency care departments will be provided from the Society's social security fund (see socialism section). Legalized drugs: All drugs are legalized, at least for citizens. (Tentative; this will be one of the things tested by the state-system mentioned in another section since we don't know exactly whether adoption of this system is good for a society.) Note, as put forward in the education section, almost everyone that's an adult will have passed the Citizen Filter and so will be citizens, but would also have satisfactorily completed the course on medical drugs and drugs of abuse so that they will be fully aware of its consequences. Drug user surveillance: Added government surveillance on people who use drugs/medications seen as psychologically effective or which are addictive and thus tend to result in increased crime rate. However, this does not mean the government is allowed to subvert those individuals' privacy and other rights. Regions with higher drug use rates will be apportioned a somewhat higher police density to cope with any increases in the crime rate that may result. Energy Nuclear power: Comprising 95% of all energy output of Society, a great many nuclear power plants are interspersed at various locations around the world - usually rather close to uranium sources - and keep energy costs at reasonable levels even for the high-energy-intensive late 21st century. These plants are usually sited at places far removed from developed places and also far away from nature preserves. Nuclear waste disposal: Nuclear wastes are disposed in large, well insulated underground chambers (similar to Yucca mountain). Oftentimes these are located right underneath nuclear power plants, reducing transportation risks and reducing NIMBY effects. Fossil fuels: Most fossil fuels are used for situations in which combustion engines are still required. Since most of Society uses electricity by power line, this is quite a limited use of energy. Renewable resources: Given the shift to nuclear power, the cost of energy has still yet to rise to the point that more expensive alternatives of energy, such as wind, solar, tidal, geothermal, and water-gravity (dams) are still rarely used. They are primarily used as backup in case something happens to the nuclear power network. Standardization: Energy outlets are uniform across the world, using four-prong outlets (two for grounding). A common device in use throughout the world converts electricity from these outlets into microwave energy allowing for wireless power. Economy Centralization/monopolization: Industrial and service processes that can see significant benefit through economies of scale, such as airplane manufacturing, will be centralized into a single monopoly. The government (or the people, aka. consumer vigilante groups) will see to it that this monopoly is not being run to maximize company profit, but to maximize the benefit to society, so they will be able to point out flaws in the system, incorrect or unfair pricing schemes, etc., and pointing this out will lead to fixes in the system. Of course there will be to some extent government oversight on such centralized monopolies. Company review forums: Online websites where consumers can post reviews of goods and services obtained from companies, and their experiences with those companies, available for easy access by all and compiled into comprehensive reports for quick review by a board of editors trusted by those same websites' communities. These reports would be read by anyone who cares about the matter or are trying to evaluate ways to improve that company or are shopping for something big (such as who should you get to release your startup's IPO?). Because access to posting on these sites will not be restricted, anyone can easily point out problems in a company in such a way that people will notice, resulting in an eventual change in the company. Government equity positions: The government will be the largest investor, having positions in many companies. After all, the government's objective is to make the economy better, so why not start off by aligning incentives between the government's and that of the companies on which the economy is based? Government can borrow (using the current bond system is fine) at near-zero-percent interest rates since Society, as the single government in the world and with control over its money supply, is de facto unable to default (it'll just print more money) and will be ultra-stable. Of course, its massive positions in equity will mean that it will be less stable than many countries of today's world, but since it can expand the money supply at will, this is essentially a non-issue. So the government will be able to collect money at very low rates and turn around and use that money to buy equity for much higher returns. In this way the government can earn 7-15% returns annually. As long as the government has enough money to start off with (which it can get to eventually if it starts doing something like this or temporarily has high taxes in its early decades), and assuming it doesn't over-spend on years with low returns or losses, and assuming it saves surplus money from good years, it will have the ability to generate enough money overall to pay for its traditional obligations as a government, and no longer be dependent on taxes for income. No taxes: Because the government is leaner (lack of any sizable military, for instance), and because of other activities that the government is involved for, there will be essentially no taxes (neither on income nor on accumulated wealth). All government income will come from other sources, at least in good years. In bad years the government will of course have to resort to taxes. No trade barriers: Since there's just the one government it makes no sense for the government to regulate trade through use of barriers, quotas, etc. But neither will it provide trade subsidies, since there's no subset of the human population that it should theoretically be favoring. Revised subsidies: Subsidies will be provided by the government only for expenditures resulting in benefit to all of society, ie. positive externalities that can't be reasonably captured by individuals paying for the rest of the expenditures. This applies to many things: *Software development *Scientific research (medical, biological, etc.) *Support for inventions and innovations, and *Knowledge-sharing systems (like many of the items in the Communications section). Socialism Social security fund: This will be mandatory collection from all individuals, so that the amount it receives will on average be enough to provide for its various uses. The idea is for it to neither turn a surplus nor a deficit. (At first this money will be mandatory collection, but once the government attains critical mass for trading on its own account taxes are done away with altogether, this included.) Social security fund uses: This is meant to be paid for the following services provided by the government: *Emergency medical care *Joblessness charity *Disaster relief (includes a lot of insurance titles, such as storm, flooding, volcano, quake, etc) *Payments in case of handicapping, paralysis or other bodily harm, paid out based on inability to earn income *Epidemic/pandemic response team *Pensions if one ends up retiring with barely enough money to get by The point of which is to prevent such people from turning criminal in order to get money, or doing other activities that are less than efficient, due to lack of money when they need it the most. No-qualms payment: Unlike the current insurance companies' way of doing business, which includes denial of payment altogether for any small infraction, government payments from the social security fund for insurance purposes will be decreased by a small percentage for infractions, rather than be reduced so much that it screws over the needy entirely. Joblessness charity: Charity for the jobless will be provided in part by private/community charities. The government will provide enough money to support the basic necessities for as long as one is unemployed, without any end to the duration, though the amount given per month starts off high and drops off. This encourages the unemployed to at least try to find a job, but the system won't screw over the people who are just very unfortunate, regardless of reason, to be able to find/keep a job at all. Otherwise, such unemployed people could very well turn to crime. This ampleness of funds will be made possible through the use of modern, highly efficient technology that takes care of most of the necessities of living, and by the government investment method (see the economy section). Culture of voluntary work: Because people don't even need to be employed any more to live a bare-bones life, Society will use social propaganda and other means to elicit in people a desire to do work, similar to a work ethic, in any of the following ways: *A desire to outdo others (for the egoistic-inclined), *A desire to accumulate wealth (for the hedonistic-inclined), *A desire to rise in social status (for the celebrity-inclined), *A desire to reach a position of power (for the managing-inclined), *A desire to make a distinctly new creation (for the creative-inclined), *A desire to do what no one else has done before (for the inventive-inclined), *A desire to make other individuals better off (for the altruistic-inclined), *A desire to fix problems (for the repairing-inclined), *A desire to make the world better (for the perfectionist-inclined), *A desire to discover something new (for the curious-inclined), *A desire to help the community (for the empathically-inclined), etc. That way people who do work are people who want to work in whatever field it is they are in, rather than people who grudgingly do just enough to make do. By removing the need for people to have work, this innate human tendency to do good will be brought out more. Land Sprawl: Cities have grown several times over in size from the early 21st century, and they and towns and suburbs have mostly merged into large ecumenopolises (aka. Eastern Seaboard, which stretches from Boston through Miami without a break). As as a result of nearly unbridled population growth getting close to the earth's carrying capacity, very little space is left as pristine nature. This is the reason that much of the cityscape of the planet has been connected in an extensive grid-like street network. Land value: Land values are now very high in almost all places. Whole cities have sprouted up in the middle of deserts just because all the land everywhere else has been entirely exhausted. As a result, suburbian villas like those of year 2000 have now mostly disappeared except for the extremely wealthy, replaced by high-density blocks of apartment/condominium buildings and high-rise commercial buildings, and large, multi-layered factories. Rarely do cities have buildings under 3 stories tall. Cities feature a lot of skyscrapers. Natural preserves: Many locations considered natural wonders are preserved by Society. In total, natural preserves constitute only 1% of the total non-water surface area of the earth. Natural preserves serve one of three functions: *The museum type, which allows people to visit the territory after paying for tickets, which are used to support the natural preserve; these are usually kept by private institutions; *The observation type, which is for keeping natural wonders unharmed so that future populations way see it, and these are often used for making films and pictures of, but usually don't allow people to visit them too often for fear of ruining the preserve; and *The conservation type, which is usually very large, large enough to sustain stable populations of a variety of species, so as to help prevent species extinction. Automation Mass use of robots: The medical robot Doctor Device is one of many different types of robots, each of them used for its own purpose. The police, firefighters, and EMS use various types of unmanned aerial vehicles. Transport of luggage is aided by robots, and robots also clean things. Factory robots: Factories and industrialization have proceeded to the point that robots are used for nearly every aspect of production, as well as performing a variety of services. Factories no longer have any workers directly on the assembly line or even in the factory itself; they no longer have any guards, janitors, truck drivers, or other personnel. All of these have been automated with the use of mass-manufactured, cheap robots. Instead, several people manage the robots that operate the factory, providing oversight and fixing problems when they arise through controlling the robots. Servant robots: A variety of robots at affordable prices can be bought for use by the average family to perform a variety of chores. Automated transport: Transportation, which is primarily public (the metro rail system), is controlled automatically according to a very specifically set schedule. These are powered by pantograph. Foldable furniture: Also because space is such a precious commodity, furniture are able to contract or else "fold up" so as to save space. This allows rooms to be a lot smaller, for homes to have fewer rooms, and still to give the feeling that there's plenty of room. Reduced industrial/service workload: Robots will have fallen greatly in price and so will see generic use in just about anything that sees much repetitive action, such as industrial production processes and even certain types of service jobs, and will thereby supplant human work in those fields since robotic work will be far cheaper. Humans will thus see a very significant shift towards employment in other kinds of labor. More affordable baseline living standard: The widespread use of robots for goods and services will mean that a baseline (rather poor) standard of living, consisting of shelter, transportation, food, etc., ie. stuff necessary for getting by and having a modicum of happiness and quality to life, will cost so little as to be essentially free and easily within reach of charity organizations - for all the worlds' peoples. Hence one will rarely/barely need to work if all one desires in life are the most basic/common of goods and services. Background industry: Industry for a variety of common goods, especially food, will be generated in any place that isn't occupied by something else (such as a living quarter, road, or workplace). This will be supported by a vast fleet of semi-independently operating, semi-coordinated robots and computer systems, that will share in resource transportation but not be centralized in terms of space used in the production. One may think of this as the entire Earth being a giant factory / Earth being flooded with many small factories, rather than having particular factory zones/buildings/areas. The robots might also tend to overproduce, so that, say, it is possible to simply walk down the road and pluck up some freshly made food along the way from one of these micro-factories. Tolerance Many states: Society, while working as a whole in dealing with many issues, cannot be considered one political jurisdiction in other issues. The world is cut into 2^N states, all of different sizes with parts spread out across the world. Each state has its own set of variations on the law or on preferences and customs. These were set up so as to reduce the tension between peoples of different beliefs and ideals. Tolerance: On the other hand, each state's peoples are expected to let other people live with their own beliefs in their own communities, and not try to infringe on the rights of other communities. What is legal in one half of the states is illegal in the half of states that doesn't support that set of principles. Balanced territories: Since part of the point of the states system is to allow for experimentation and evaluation of different policies, it is important that the states start off balanced. Of course "balance" is hard to determine, but it generally involves equal standards of living and balance of resources between the various states. Furthermore the evaluation is based on changes from the baseline, ie. how the two sets of states change as a result of their adopting different policies. Boundaries: The boundaries between the states are regions where it's expected that both sides of an issue would be tolerated, and thus the boundaries are the places where the discussions on these issues take place. Lines of division: Half of the states are divided along each of these categories (more may be added): *Strict religion (ie. those only allowing for one deity) vs accepting of polytheism *Abortion legal vs. illegal *Radical vs. conservative *Capitalist vs. communist *Environmentally friendly vs. non-friendly *Balanced budget vs. nonbalanced budget *Various monetary policies *For or against free speech *For or against harsh punishment and capital punishment *For or against poor-health taxes (ie. junk food tax) *For or against legalized gambling *For or against legalized prostitution *For or against legalized eroticism *For or against legalized drugs *For or against legalized violent movies and games *For or against use of machines for all ends (ie. Luddites) *and others... Duel of societies: Periodically, the states would be split up into new ones and over the course of several decades it will become apparent if certain policies are better than others, ie. result in increased efficiency or productivity. Then at the end of a certain period of time, experiments will become "closed" and the states will be remerged with similar other ones. This would be good for evaluating effects of fiscal policies on the economy and on evaluating effects of legalized drugs on crime rate, etc. Hence this provides a means of searching for the perfect society. Communications Advanced searching: A variety of online organizations will crawl over the internet database the way search engine spiders do today, and classify pages based on content and aim across a variety of levels: *Page/font/color style *Use of images: number of images, image arrangement, types of background *Content *Types of websites the majority of links are to *Keywords/terms used *Objective of website *Traffic / who comes to the site (evaluated by whether people find the site relevant and declare it as such, after visiting the site) *And many more for specialized sites, such as "questions this site answers", "things this site sells", "facts on this site", etc. Then of course this makes searching for things much more effective. Music filtering: Music filtered in very specific ways, based on traits (similar to Pandora's system), though more advanced so as to pick up on strings of notes, so if hear a particular music pattern you can find all the songs that share that pattern. This would allow quick finding of the same song in different languages, remixes, and alterations, or even the same song (but as different file types, such as MTV vs song, karaoke vs no subtitle, etc). Music ISBN: Like books, all music productions would have ISBN-like numbers attached so that searching for a song will be really easy if you know that number. Thing with music right now is that you have to know both the name and the singer or you could easily end up with a different song that goes by the same title as the one you searched for. Another problem is that translation across languages would make it very difficult to find a song. This system would eradicate that problem (though see the universal language section). Image filtering: Images would be pre-filtered in very specific ways: *Content material *Style of presentation *Overall appearance/color scheme *Digital/analog? pen/pencil? motion/static? etc. *Individuals and organizations who are the subject matter *Image size, dimension, quality, and type *Similar images (but wouldn't just have pictures that are pixel-wise similar, but also thematically and/or subjectively similar) New image standards: Widespread use of .svg (vector graphics based) images allowing for better scaling, as well as public availability of svg graphics making and reading programs. More complex images would be in a format similar to .psd, with the use of multiple layers that can be separately modified, thereby allowing people to change images more readily. Accompanying this would be widespread availability of .psd readers and editors (usually a simpler and more user-friendly version of Photoshop). Truth in advertising: It is illegal to make claims in advertisements that don't represent the typical or are untrue. (Hence, by these standards McDonalds's current advertisements for their fast food would be deemed illegal because the pictures portray their products as much larger and substantive than in reality. Same for many other restaurants that use pictures.) Also, advertisement sequences may also not exaggerate the positive benefits of a product. (Hence, by these standards advertisements showing consumers being made very happy by trivial products is illegal.) Advertisement disclaimers: Since almost nobody looks at disclaimers anyways, they are not necessary with advertisements. However, this only makes it more crucial that there be truth in advertising, because advertisers now have no protection of "the disclaimer said what I said wasn't true" to fall back on if their advertisements' lies are called out upon. Free access to all websites: People can opt out of seeing certain types of results (such as those of foreign languages, low-traffic websites, high-bandwidth-requirement websites, etc.) but won't be obstructed from seeing any websites, and most websites that have been up for any substantial length of time would be indexed along these categories. Society would have developed to the point that it is okay to view any kinds of websites, including sites normally considered strange at the current time, such as ecchi, hentai, porn, kinky sites, child porn, other sites with shocking or inflammatory content etc. WikiSensitiveInfo: Essentially a more modern version of WikiLeaks. Some organization like the current Wikileaks, though with news releases made to be more understandable and interesting to the average person rather than on obscure titles, and at least partially self-censored so that news that would be outright damaging to the functionality of the government wouldn't show up (as contrasted with news that would be outright damaging to individuals, regardless of who they are, if they are actually wrongful). As a result, information that would hamper the ability of Society's secret service operations if released, would not be released as a result of this self-censoring. Brand naming: Common words (nouns, adjectives) can't be used as brands. Names of places and people would usually not be allowed for brand names, due to potential for confusion. (For example, is Zephyr Springs bottled water collected from Zephyr Springs? Maybe not, but it sounds like yes.) Universal language: Most likely English since it is already a near-universal language. Whatever language becomes thus would be understood by everyone (save the very very young) and be the sole means of communication except when jargon or other modes of transmitting data are required; in other words, no "minority language" that needs to be learned to speak with a subsection of the populace. WikiHowTo: Websites that allow people to post instructions on anything they want, and (as above) are not censored. This includes things that would usually be bad for people in Society, including topics such as "Step by Step: How to make your own nuke", etc. WikiCourses: A centralized database of lecture-style presentations, fully interactive with accompanying quizzes, worksheets, and appendices, available for free download from a central website, as a further extension of Wikipedia. This would allow people who want to expand their knowledge to do so easily using a prefabricated lesson-learning curriculum made by professional teachers so that they can learn this stuff as fast as possible, rather than having to look up articles on the internet without a good idea of what they're missing out on from their curricula. This is seen as "secondary education" beyond the mandatory schooling (see education section), and the source to go to for anyone seeking a career change or seeking to rise up the career ladder. Ocular overlays: Small devices worn over one eye would act like a computer screen, but for just the one eye, that can detect shifting in the pupil and respond appropriately by shifting the text/info of the overlay around for easy reading. Would allow people to access the internet at all times, which is very good for staying entertained and staying up-to-date. Not exactly a driving hazard either because of the lack of driving (see Transportation). These devices wouldn't pierce the skin, and would be more like glasses (but probably considerably thicker and one-sided). Centralized polling: A centralized polling organization has access to interrupt regular flow of content on computers (and ocular overlays) to bring polls to the billions of people around the world simultaneously, asking for immediate feedback. The poll would be accompanied by background info. This can be used to evaluate popular opinion about an event as well as informing them about it. Revised word definitions: Words will be redefined so as to mean the definition most people who don't know what it means will expect it to mean by looking at the parts of the word, if possible. Then new words will be added that more closely reflect the meaning reasonable people would expect. This will go a long way to making contracts much more understandable and straightforward, without the need for lawyers to ensure that there's no use of possibly deceptive vocabulary. It will also help improve debate and intelligent discussion by preventing misinterpretation of the word. Furthermore, since the words whose meanings are flipped in this way become confusing, many of them will fall out of favor and the rest will be temporarily phased out for a decade or so, allowing for current legal contracts to expire and allowing for people to adjust to the new meaning of the word. Science and Innovation WikiTechnology: Websites that have constantly updated information on the state of Society's technology, including "military-grade/sensitive" information. (After all Society is the only government in this scenario.) The sharing and constant updating of this information would reduce the amount of reinventing-the-wheel that takes place, allowing innovators to work on things that don't exist yet in any format, and drawing upon resources and how-to's of all other inventions ever invented, and innovations ever innovated, and discoveries ever discovered. This would thereby allow technology to be improved upon faster. Revised PubMed: Instead of having PubMed only providing articles published in science journals, the future PubMed would publish anything submitted by scientists (scientists would be expected to have a Scientist Filter qualification of some sort though). The current publication system overemphasizes "interesting", "positive-finding" articles and de-emphasizes "mundane" and "negative-finding" articles (by negative-finding I mean articles that conclude that X does NOT affect Y, which is also important to science). Also, this would make it easier for scientists to put forth claims that another article's results are incorrect, which are usually de-emphasized by the current publication system (and thus make for flawed science). This also allows scientists to retract their own findings more readily (in the current system the retraction will be read by far fewer people than the original article). Also, with government support, all the articles will be freely available for reading, and references to other articles will be links to those articles (just as with Wikipedia). Lax patent laws: Society (the government) pays inventors and innovators money for their inventions (and to a lesser extent the same with discoverers for their discoveries) based on an amount determined to be fair by a special assembly of the Legislature (one that specializes in patents) - one amount upfront, and another amount on a per-use basis, to some extent. To make up for this, a person's patent rights are weakened. This allows other people to follow up with other patents which may be "another step up" based on this first patent without having to secure rights to do so using a contract or waiting for the patent to expire, both time-consuming and highly inefficient methods. Of course, this system, by not being wholly market-based, results inevitably in loss of information in an economic sense, since it is difficult to ascribe values to inventions. Instead of patents allowing for exclusivity of the inventor, patents give royalties to the inventor, so that while anyone else can exploit that technology, they are legally required to give some money to the inventor (say, 5%, though this depends significantly on the type of invention) as recompense, and this of course puts the inventor in a somewhat better position to profit off of one's invention, as well as rewarding the inventor directly. By removing exclusivity, this system removes the monopoly-making power of a patent which is good for technologies that have already been introduced seeing widespread use, but hampers development of new technology. WikiOpenSource: Online sites allowing people to post open source computer programs (similar to wonderfl.net). The government would also take a role in paying subsidies to people who programmed based on submitted requests, which would themselves be determined by poll among program-users on the site. Since the government's money will be originating from the people, projects funded using its money will be accessible by all people everywhere. (Copyright problems involving other countries are a non-issue since Society is the only country.) Wiki Creative Commons: All works released on wikis (and many open-for-sharing internet sites in general) will be available under some version of Creative Commons, so that anyone is free to use a product that is legally released on such a website provided they give credits and don't try to commercialize someone else's stuff, and so that uploaders retain rights over their submissions.